The Walking Dead spinoff series may offer a prelude to the zombie apocalypse

When it was first announced that The Walking Dead would be getting a new companion series, many wondered whether it—like all new companions on The Walking Dead—would be more of a burden, leading to overcrowding and, inevitably, viral eye-bleeding. But TV Line suggests this new spinoff may give The Walking Dead some necessary space by being a prequel, covering “the early days of the epidemic and the effort to contain it,” in addition to taking place in an entirely different location with entirely different (yet still given to endlessly bickering) people. There’s no official confirmation of that, and even TV Line acknowledges that even were this the plan, the series isn’t set to debut until 2015, meaning it could still change. But for those who, like The Walking Dead’s Rick Grimes, feel like maybe they missed out on the whole “zombie epidemic” craze, only arriving after it was already old news, this could be your chance to see what it was like to start hating the undead before it was cool. Also, who doesn’t love newly redesigned looks at familiar material?